New Zealander Richard Mander is the new chief executive of BigScreenLive, a Kirkland startup producing software that adds usability features for senior computer users.

Mander's taking the place of Cayce Roy, a former Amazon.com executive who started running the company after becoming an early investor. Roy will stay on the board of directors.

Roy said he always planned to step aside if the company found an ideal successor and "this was just a really great thing for BigScreenLive."

Mander, 48, was previously chief executive of HumanWare, a company that makes assistive technology devices for the blind. Earlier he was chief technology officer at Navman and involved in research and development of advanced concept products at Apple.

So does that mean BigScreenLive will start producing hardware devices as well as software? Perhaps, eventually.

"In the longer term we're exploring a number of different ideas in that area,'' Mander said.

For now, the company's focused on improving its software, getting more users, raising its first Series A funding round and finalizing enterprise contracts.

Roy wouldn't say exactly who those contracts involve, but it sounds as if they could be networks of assisted living facilities and computer hardware makers.

Gadgets and games | Fun stuff I've written about lately includes Apple's iPhone, Hewlett-Packard's HDX laptop and Microsoft's Halo3. Also on the radar are new digital video boxes such as the Tivo HD and the Vudu.